Superfans: Why more fans are shelling out hundreds for backstage access to their favourite stars

Kristel Wulchuk and her "husband" -- Conan O'Brien -- during a meet and greet at River Cree Resort & Casino in 2010.

Originally published November 17, 2012.

EDMONTON - “No touching or exchange of bodily fluids,” barks a short, burly security guard with a permanent sneer on his face.

He scans the crowd in front of him — 30 nervous men and women in a small room in the bowels of Rexall Place. They’re waiting for alt-rock hero Billy Corgan and The Smashing Pumpkins to play a private three-song set before the band’s full show later in the evening. The backstage session is part of a $399 “Oceania Premier VIP Experience Bundle” package purchased by 20 fans in the room. (Ten others are contest winners.)

Gio, the security guard, continues to lay down the law. Taking photos and videos is OK, but don’t use flash. Don’t ask for autographs. Don’t try to crowd around Corgan as he performs.

“Don’t do anything to embarrass yourself and look like an idiot in front of everyone,” says Gio. “We all know this could go south pretty quickly.”

A few seconds later, Corgan and his three bandmates walk to the front of the room and grab their instruments. The bald frontman takes off his Elmer Fudd-style hunting cap and straps on his guitar only a couple feet from the VIPs.

“This must be a dream,” says one loud-mouthed guy, trying too hard to impress with his enthusiasm. “If it’s a dream, it’s a bad dream,” quips Corgan.

He looks around, somewhat stunned at all the cameras and mobile devices pointed at him. “Everyone’s got their phones,” he smiles before launching into A Song for a Son, the first tune from the band’s online project, Teargarden by Kaleidyscope.

This dream — or nightmare — also includes a commemorative lanyard, an autographed poster, a copy of the band’s latest CD, Oceania, and a Q&A session. After they finish their three songs, Corgan answers five pre-approved questions from fans. (No queries about his previous bandmates allowed.) Who are your musical/cultural influences? Which song do you wish you had written? (“Probably Strawberry Fields.”) What do you sing in the shower?

Once he answers the last question, Corgan and his bandmates dash out of the room. A tour employee hands out bags of goodies and concert tickets to the fans, who then head onto the arena floor to wait for the band’s full concert.

“That was phenomenal,” says VIP-er Paul LePoudre, who drove in from Moose Jaw, Sask. “I’ve been to a few concerts and I’ve never actually been THAT up close and personal before.”

VIP packages are a growing phenomenon in the concert industry, but it’s not enough to simply offer great seats and exclusive merchandise for a few dozen fans.

The Smashing Pumpkins are one of dozens of acts offering more elaborate perks – such as pre-show parties, sound checks, meet and greets — for increasingly higher prices. Depending on the status of the artist, of course:

* Big Wreck, a reunited Canadian rock act, is only charging $99.99 for a ticket, meet and greet, photo op, lanyard and tour poster on their current tour. (Regular tickets are $39.50 to their Dec. 14 show at the Shaw Conference Centre.)

* For $350 – more than three times the cost of a regular ticket — you can buy a VIP package for Journey’s Nov. 27 show at Rexall Place, which includes pre-show drinks, a photo op with the band, a gift bag, and a ticket in the first six rows.

(As with many of these packages, fans won’t know where their seats are until they get to the venue. They don’t receive tickets in the post — they usually get emails with a set of instructions.)

* Paul McCartney’s most expensive VIP packages cost $2,000 and feature a pre-show buffet, invitation to his sound check, and a front-row seat to his sold out Nov. 28 and 29 Rexall shows. (Regular tickets ranged from $29.50 to $250.)

* Bon Jovi is hawking at least six different packages, including the “Diamond VIP Experience” for $3,350, including two front-row tickets and seats you can take home after the band’s April 3 gig at Rexall. (Regular tickets range from $29.24 to $174.74.)

“The higher the price the smaller the number of buyers,” says Gary Bongiovanni, editor-in-chief of Pollstar, a publication for concert industry professionals. “These are really for people with too much money in their pockets.”

He says the number of VIP tickets allotted per show “varies widely depending on the artist and the demand level” — but they always make up the smallest percentage of ticket revenues.

The world’s top concert promoters, Live Nation and AEG Live, are two of the main companies behind VIP packages. Another is Artist Arena, owned by Warner Music Group. Unfortunately, they don’t like talking about the details of the multibillion dollar concert industry — not one agreed to an interview.

Artists, however, are slightly more forthcoming. Great Pumpkin Billy Corgan says VIP packages offer a fresh source of income at a time when record sales are lower than Donald Trump’s popularity rating.

“We’ve got to explore new ways to connect and we’ve got to explore new ways to generate revenue,” Corgan says during an interview before the band’s Edmonton show. “(The VIP packages) don’t generate that much revenue, but you do have to look at what we can we do to make people feel good about spending money, since purchasing a CD is no longer attractive to most people. What people really want is something to talk about, something to put on their Facebook.”

Does he ever feel like he’s pimping himself out with these packages, forced to give even more of himself to make a few extra dollars? (Their $399 VIP passes were five times the price of their most expensive regular tickets. By selling 20 of those packages, the Pumpkins made a gross of $7,980.)

“We did this three years ago and I came off the tour and said, ‘That was s---,’ and we haven’t done it until now,” says Corgan.

“This is the first time I’m motivated to do it. So if I was strictly pimping myself out, then I’d have done on it on every tour and hated it.”

Jacob Hoggard, who fronts Hedley, feels it’s his duty to offer special perks for diehards. The rockers used to do meet and greets for free. But since making the leap from small clubs to hockey arenas, he knows it’s logistically impossible to hang with all his fans.

On Hedley’s latest tour of Canada, the band offered a VIP package for $179 — including a beach towel, a T-shirt, a sheet of fake tattoos, and a meet and greet before the show. (Regular tickets for their March 21 show at Rexall were $25, $34.50 and $49.50.) While some artists may mingle for a few minutes, take some photos with fans, then skedaddle — Hoggard prefers to treat his meet and greets as hangouts with his pals.

“I bring my stereo, have a chillin’ party,” says the former Canadian Idol contestant. “It’s gotta be fun. We never want to show up and half-ass it. I just know how detrimental that would be and we don’t want to treat people like that. We want to make sure it’s very evident that we’re doing as much as we can for our fans.

“The birth of arena tours for us was sort of the death of our four-hour meet and greets after every show. No matter where we played, up until that point, we’d sit at a table at the back of the building and say ‘Hi’ to every single person in the room.

“We still want to show our fans that there’s a way we can still make that happen to some degree, giving as much as we can.”

Festivals, venues and promoters are also getting in on the VIP action. The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, near Palm Springs, Calif., sells $799 (US) VIP passes with access to shaded areas, seating and extra bathrooms, plus entry to the Rose Garden with “a spectacular view and thousands of roses.” (A general three-day pass costs $349.)

Boodang Music Canada, Edmonton’s top promoter of electronic music events, sells VIP tickets with benefits such as express entry, premium drinks and, in some cases, special sections in venues. Company co-owner Viet Nguyen says Boodang sells about 200 or 300 VIP tickets to shows at Edmonton Event Centre, which has a capacity of about 1,500. The company sells as many as 500 VIP tickets to parties at the Shaw, which has a capacity of 5,000 people. Nguyen says the special passes usually cost $20 to $30 more than regular tickets — and most of the money goes to paying the DJs.

“The lineups at our shows, because of the searches, take a lot longer than a normal event,” he says. “At a Rexall event, you might get randomly searched. At our events, everyone gets searched, so it takes a lot longer. That’s the appealing part about our VIP tickets — you can get in a lot quicker because you only have to wait in a smaller line of people.”

Despite the growing popularity of VIP packages, some artists aren’t ready to jump on the bandwagon. John K. Samson, the self-effacing frontman of Canada’s folk-rock socialists, The Weakerthans, is uncomfortable with the pay-for-perks concept.

“I do understand there’s something kind of cool about the fact you can go and meet someone, but I’m not sure I’m cool with the idea of you having to pay to do so,” he laughs. “I can’t picture ANYONE wanting to pay for a backstage tour with me: ‘There’s the band room. There’s the water and the hummus.’ Not much of a thrill.”

The thrill, of course, is in the adrenal glands of the ticket holder.

Kristel Wulchuk, a self-described “concert freak,” spent $700 for a VIP package to talk-show host Conan O’Brien’s gig at River Cree Resort & Casino in 2010. She was one of 10 fans who got to sit in on the gangly ginger’s sound check — he played Radiohead’s Creep — and meet him after the show.

“I’d pay it again in a heartbeat,” says Wulchuk, 29. “It was awesome. We got front-row tickets. We got a photo with him. Then I got to chat with him. He complimented my hair. The really cool thing is ... do you remember the tour documentary he released? I’m actually in it! I’m in there for about 10 seconds. It’s pretty cool.”

She also paid $549 for a VIP package to see Britney Spears during her post-meltdown concert at Rexall Place in 2009. A meet and greet wasn’t part of the experience, but Wulchuk received buttons, stickers, a tote bag, Britney lollipops, and a commemorative ticket — plus nibbled on popcorn, chicken skewers, shrimp cocktail, veggies and cheese and crackers at a pre-show party for VIPs. She says the package was worth it — “I got really good pictures, I made friends I probably wouldn’t have otherwise” — but she prefers artist meet and greets to pre-show parties and tour knick-knacks.

“The memorabilia can be hit or miss,” says Wulchuk. “I really liked the commemorative concert ticket from Britney’s show, but not so much the tote bag, which I still have yet to use.

“I think artists should also offer the chance for the VIPs to sit in during sound checks or a backstage tour of some sort. Something that creates a unique, memorable experience. Ideally, it would be nice to have an actual sit-down conversation with the artist that you love or idolize.

“I wouldn’t be willing to spend $500 for someone I’m not that crazy about, but if I’m a big fan and I love them enough, I’m willing to dish out. I don’t smoke, I rarely drink, so this is my only vice.”

VIP packages can be addicting — just ask Anton Atienza. He’s paid for about 20 of them over the last five years — from screamo punks Alexisonfire to pop star Katy Perry to Quin twins Tegan & Sara. He thinks most of the packages end up costing about the same as if he were to order a regular ticket, then buy a T-shirt, program and some food at the show.

So far, Atienza says he’s only had one disappointing VIP experience — when a company didn’t send him a pre-sale password to buy a meet-and-greet package for pop starlet Selena Gomez. (As a paid member of her fan club, he was supposed to receive the password.) His favourite VIP experience? Beyonce in 2007. As part of the $375 package — plus $36 to join her fan club — three VIPs were selected to meet the pop/R&B diva backstage at Rexall. Atienza was one of them.

“We all got a photo with her,” he says. “It’s always been one of those childhood dreams to meet her, because I grew up with Destiny’s Child. That was one of the best moments of my life.”

Some VIP packages are memorable for the wrong reasons.

Brad Clarke doesn’t think his $150 VIP ticket to this year’s Sonic Boom, a rock festival at Northlands, came with enough perks. Despite previous complaints, he says there weren’t enough food vendors or indoor bathroom stalls in the VIP section, which led to long lines for both. He ended up getting his hotdogs and using the Porta Potties in the general-admission area.

“Basically, I paid three times the amount (of an early-bird regular ticket) for no extra perks except to avoid the general-admission entrance line, which was ridiculously huge!” says Clarke. “In my opinion, (the promoter) Union Events did very little to improve on some valid complaints. There was the autograph tent, but that isn’t a perk for me.”

On John Fogerty’s recent romp through Canada, Marty Leiss was less than impressed with his experience in Winnipeg and took to the musician’s online forum to complain. (Less than 12 hours later, the ticket company posted its own message, asking Leiss to contact its support staff.)

“No sound check or meet and greet due to late plane — I understand,” he wrote on johnfogerty.com. “All I heard was ‘We will treat you right.’ Apparently a guitar pick and bandana meet this requirement. I asked his staff to get a personal item autographed since the sound check didn’t happen, and they flat out said ‘NO.’ I was totally disappointed in the fact I paid four times of any other ticket and did not get the sound check/meet-and-greet part of the package. I was totally disappointed and John and his organization need to address how they treat their fans — especially VIP — since this was to be once in a lifetime for me and I was frustrated and my whole evening was ruined (I left my front row seats early). I am a lifelong fan, and I felt like all they cared about was the money.”

Marcie Dayton, 30, doesn’t feel the same about her $399 VIP experience with The Smashing Pumpkins. As a 10-year fan of the alt-rock band and frontman Billy Corgan, she jumped at the chance to pay for their three-song backstage set and Q&A session at Rexall. “It took my breath away, I had to have it,” she says. “It didn’t matter how much it cost, I was going. It was the first time I had seen a VIP package that anybody could purchase. I’d never really heard of them before.”

While she’s disappointed Corgan didn’t shake hands or mingle with fans, Dayton says the backstage performance was so special she could have gone home without seeing the band’s full concert.

“I couldn’t believe I was standing so close to him, I love him!” she says with a laugh.

“It was worth it. I would definitely do it again. I probably wouldn’t pay that much for any other band. It was an awesome experience. Five feet away from your favourite singer? I felt pretty important. Like something I’ve never experienced before.”

Dayton shared the experience with her younger sister, Ali, a VIP virgin who plays drums for a local surf-rock trio, The Frolics. She, too, says she could get hooked on these perks.

“Being a musician myself, I walked away completely inspired,” she says. “If there was someone I wanted to see bad enough, and the price was decent, I would do it again. If I had the chance to meet Jack White, that would be killer. Or if I could bring John Bonham back from the grave, I’d pay over a grand for that.”

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